Could you substitute a 72 454 TCS solenoid

[Geoff C.]

[Jim T.]

Re: Could you substitute a 72 454 TCS solenoid

It would be interesting to find out what the difference is with different years of TCS solenoids. I have one from my son's 70 Camaro that was removed many years ago and have never really compared it to the one that came on my 70 Corvette. I had always thought that the temperature unit would be the brains of this system in controlling the vacuum to the vacuum advance along with the gear selection.

[Jim T.]

Re: Could you substitute a 72 454 TCS solenoid

It would be interesting to find out what the difference is with different years of TCS solenoids. I have one from my son's 70 Camaro that was removed many years ago and have never really compared it to the one that came on my 70 Corvette. I had always thought that the temperature unit would be the brains of this system in controlling the vacuum to the vacuum advance along with the gear selection.

[Joe L.]

Re: Could you substitute a 72 454 TCS solenoid

Geoffrey-----

You pose an interesting question and I'm afraid that I don't have a definitive answer for it. However, I can offer this: in the 1970-74 period, GM was trying to meet emissions control regulations, which, in about 1973, became based on NUMERICAL, tail-pipe standards, using engine "modifications" and "add-on" equipment. Meeting these standards in this manner was most difficult for the 1974 model year since the catalytic converter was still a year off.

So, for the 1974 model year, GM (and other manufacturers) faced the "herculean" task of meeting the more stringent 1974 standards with nothing but "engine mods". I expect that the differences from previous years in the 1974 TCS system (and components thereof) were the result of the efforts to extract every last bit of emissions reduction that could be achieved. So, every system was "tweaked" to the max and, if that required modified or new components, that's what was done.

My expectation is that some of the components could be "mixed-and-matched" between years with no effect on engine performance (although, likely, with some minor effect on emissions system performance). The one "caveat" here, though, is that, as I say, the 1974 emission systems were "tweaked to the max". This even resulted in, in many cases, poor driveability for 1974 models. So, any change to the emissions control systems, which are fully "integrated" in the overall scheme of things, MIGHT affect other systems and result in a driveability problem.

[Joe L.]

Re: Could you substitute a 72 454 TCS solenoid

Geoffrey-----

You pose an interesting question and I'm afraid that I don't have a definitive answer for it. However, I can offer this: in the 1970-74 period, GM was trying to meet emissions control regulations, which, in about 1973, became based on NUMERICAL, tail-pipe standards, using engine "modifications" and "add-on" equipment. Meeting these standards in this manner was most difficult for the 1974 model year since the catalytic converter was still a year off.

So, for the 1974 model year, GM (and other manufacturers) faced the "herculean" task of meeting the more stringent 1974 standards with nothing but "engine mods". I expect that the differences from previous years in the 1974 TCS system (and components thereof) were the result of the efforts to extract every last bit of emissions reduction that could be achieved. So, every system was "tweaked" to the max and, if that required modified or new components, that's what was done.

My expectation is that some of the components could be "mixed-and-matched" between years with no effect on engine performance (although, likely, with some minor effect on emissions system performance). The one "caveat" here, though, is that, as I say, the 1974 emission systems were "tweaked to the max". This even resulted in, in many cases, poor driveability for 1974 models. So, any change to the emissions control systems, which are fully "integrated" in the overall scheme of things, MIGHT affect other systems and result in a driveability problem.